This invention is directed to a high performance shielded electrical connector, such as a printed circuit board mounted modular jack, preferably an array of aligned jacks in a metal shielded housing, where such connector exceeds EIA/TIA 568-A requirements for Category 5 applications.
Shielded modular jacks have been used for the transmission of data in local area networks, such as a computer hub. The shielding of these jacks reduces the transmission of noise and sensitivity to external noise, thereby allowing a higher data transmission speed than conventional non-shielded modular jacks. The modular jack is compact and of relatively low cost in comparison to many other data connectors for transmission of high speed data. Accordingly, it is advantageous to use modular jacks in replacement of such connectors. Due to the ever increasing data transmission speeds, and the close spacing of juxtaposed conductors positioned in the modular jack, excessive crosstalk limits the data transmission speed capability of existing modular jacks.
Efforts have been made to improve the performance of modular jacks, through rearrangement of the wires within the jack. However, little has been done to improve the shield thereabout. Typically, as more clearly illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a modular jack is mounted within a metal chassis, generally from the rear, where grounding means extend from the metal connector shield in grounding contact with the metal chassis housing. This will become clearer later in the description to follow. Suffice to say however, there have been problems associated with these prior art techniques in providing an effective low resistance grounding of the system. Typically, such prior art techniques included angularly extending, rearwardly directed tabs struck from the metal shield. One problem, for example, when the assembled jack was pushed completely into the metal chassis opening, the tabs would become hooked or jammed making it difficult to remove the assembly. Further, the tabs could become easily overstressed and/or break resulting in poor or no contact with the metal housing. Finally, such prior art tabs caused handling problems.
The present invention, by the use of a uniquely shaped, reversely oriented grounding tab, overcomes the many problems associated with the prior art techniques. The advantages of this invention, and the manner by which such problems have been overcome, will become apparent in the following specification, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.